


Arrested

by DarkJediQueen



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Discussions of Touchy Subjects, False Rape Accusation, First Time, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-17
Updated: 2019-06-17
Packaged: 2020-05-13 11:44:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19250533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkJediQueen/pseuds/DarkJediQueen
Summary: There were the MPD officers with guns trained on him and two detectives. "You are under arrest." One of the detectives stepped closer, and Spencer raised his hands.





	Arrested

**Author's Note:**

> **Year** : Season 10  
>  **Spoilers** : Up Through Season 10  
>  **Beta** : Grammarly

Spencer Reid took in a breath of fresh air as the team exited the restaurant. Morgan and JJ were laughing at a story Rossi was finishing telling. They had finished up a day of paperwork and fled the office as soon as they could. JJ had his bag in hand while he slipped on his light jacket. He hadn't drunk anything with dinner, but his equilibrium was off just a little bit from still healing from concussions.

"Spencer Reid?" A voice called out. It wasn't one that Spencer recognized, so he stopped.

"Yes?" Spencer said as he looked up. There were MPD officers with guns trained on him, and the two detectives did as well. Outside of a gang having guns on the team, Spencer hadn't seen that many guns trained on him and never from fellow law enforcement. He felt himself start to get a funny feeling in his stomach.

"You are under arrest," one of the Detectives said. His eyes were darting to the team as they fanned around where Spencer was the moment. It wasn't exactly easy to hide that they all had guns. One of the officers looked a little unsure of this.

The other Detective stepped closer, and Spencer raised his hands. "I am armed. Right front hip. Revolver." It was visible, but Spencer wasn't going to do a damned thing that could be used against him.

"Do you have a permit for it?" the first Detective looked almost gleeful at that. It was like he was stupid and missed that the rest of the people around him were armed as well. Spencer could see the man having tunnel vision and not really noticing the other people with him.

"It's my service gun. My credentials are in my back pocket. What are the charges?" Spencer stayed still while the detective took his gun.

"Rape."

"RAPE?" Morgan, JJ, Kate, and Garcia screamed at the same time. Hotch and Rossi held them back. In Morgan's case, Hotch had a hold of his arm, stopping him from going forward.

"Reid is under my command I need to secure his gun," Hotch said.

"Who are you?" The first officer asked.

"Unit Chief Aaron Hotchner of the FBI's BAU."

"He's a fed?" One of the officer's said.

"You didn't know that?" Rossi asked. Hotch's face mirrored Rossi's confusion. There was a lot that wasn't making sense, but Spencer did not want to start anything at all, and he hoped that clearer heads would prevail. JJ had her phone in her hand and was typing.

"Reid, go with them. Don't say anything. I'll talk to Cruz and then be there as your lawyer. Don't say a word." Hotch stared at Spencer until the younger man nodded.

The detective handed over Spencer's gun to Hotch who handed it to Morgan, giving him something to do. JJ kept his bag back, looping it over her shoulder like it was hers, and Spencer was happy. He didn't want the MPD going through his things. It was bad enough that he was being handcuffed. He swallowed hard at the feel of the cold metal wrapped around his wrists. He tried not to let the smell of burning fish guts and hearts fill his nose. He started to recite Pi in his head to fight the memory.

"Reid," Hotch's voice was soft, and Spencer opened his eyes. He looked at his boss. "You'll be fine." Spencer nodded. Hotch turned to the detective closest to him. "Do not handcuff his hands or shift his handcuffs to the front. He will have a flashback and will fight you. He was restrained, tortured, and drugged by an UnSub in that position."

"Thank you for telling us," the second detective said as he stepped up to Spencer's other side and started to direct him towards the car. After closing the door, the detectives moved to the front of the unmarked car and slid inside. His rights were read to him, and he acknowledged them.

The first detective was driving. As he pulled onto the road, he turned to the other man. "Fed. I'm not that shocked. They think they can do anything."

"BAU though. Do you really think he did it?" The second at least sounded like a smarter individual.

Spencer tuned them out, forcing his mouth closed on the statistics of the various forms of law enforcement officers that turned into UnSubs. It wouldn't help him.

An hour later, Spencer was in an interrogation room, his hands still behind his back. The first detective was the one in the room with him. Waiting for Hotch.

"What's taking him so long?" the detective asked.

"He's probably having a chat with our Section Chief and discussing whether he can handle the case alone or if he'll need a Bureau lawyer to join with him. Hotch has kept his credentials up for the DC area for this reason."

"Your team get into trouble a lot?"

"We had an UnSub try and pin a murder on at least two different teams members over the years."

"Who were the other people with you?"

"The rest of our team."

The second detective stepped into the room with a file. "Are you SSA Doctor Spencer Reid?"

"Yes."

"DOB October ninth nineteen eighty-one?"

"Yes."

There was a look between the two men, and Spencer couldn't wholly place it. He didn't know enough about them to figure it out.

"Do you think you are better than everyone? Kid wonder who gets into the FBI and the best unit there? Do you think that means that you can do whatever you want? Whoever you want?"

"I'll wait for my lawyer."

It continued like that for another half an hour. They asked him question after question without him answering a single one. None were about who he had supposedly raped or even the date. They were trying to wear him down to spill his guts, and he didn't care. They did not turn violent either, though the first seemed like he wanted to but the second restrained him. It would be the end of their career, and they knew it if he was found innocent, which he would be. A knock sounded on the door, and Hotch stepped in. Spencer swallowed at the sight. Hotch had changed into one of his court suits. One of the ones that said that he was powerful and better than everyone else. If he'd been anywhere else, Spencer would have been hard as a rock, but the feel of the cuffs on his wrists and being on the other side of the table killed any mood that tried to happen. The attraction to his boss had been at the back of his mind for a very long time.

"Reid, are you okay?"

"I'm good, Hotch." Spencer watched him move around the table to sit down in the seat beside him.

"Detectives, we can handle this in a very simple way. Obviously, you have a complaining witness. Therefore, you have to have a date and time that this happened. Since our BAU team is out of the area more than in it, it would be better to start this off with the date and time this happened and go from there."

"We ask the questions here, Fed." The first detective wasn't very happy.

"Mr. Hotchner is fine since I am here as a lawyer and not a Federal Agent and all I am asking is that we are allowed to determine Doctor Reid's whereabouts in the time that the rape was said to have happened."

"The fifth at around midnight."

Spencer wasn't shocked when Hotch looked at him. It only took seconds to remember where they were at that time. Hotch knew as well, he might have been able to narrow down exactly where Spencer but he knew where the team was. "Arcadia, California. From the third through the seventh. Midnight here is nine there, so I was in the station. I was in the station from six pm to one am compiling the profile for the secondary UnSub on the case."

Both detectives looked at each other and then back at him.

"He has an IQ of 187 and an eidetic memory. I'm sure that the Arcadia police station will gladly give you access to the security feed. We will wait. If you want you can contact my Section Chief, Mateo Cruz and he will get you access." Hotch leaned back in his chair. The burden of proof was on them now. They had to prove where Spencer was to actually book him on the charge. Spencer knew that they needed to get it on their own to make sure it wasn't tampered with by he really wanted out of the cuffs.

Spencer had a feeling he knew exactly who had done this. The case had fallen right in the middle of when he should have been off. It would have been easy to pin it on him if he had been where he was supposed to be at.

"I know that you cannot release the name of the person who I am accused of raping but if it's who I think it is, please look at my hospital records for the twenty-third and then again the twenty-fifth of last month. On the visit of the twenty-fifth, I was placed in overnight observation given the wounds I received. I've been working with Virginia State Police on a restraining order for Stephanie Daniels."

"You are saying that a woman put you Mister Doctor Federal Agent into the hospital?" The first detective looked like he had made the find of the year with what Spencer said.

"As you can tell by my stature, I'm not the greatest at physical stuff. I also know that statistics on abuse at the hands of women and I won't hit a woman unless I am working on taking her in on a case and especially when I am home alone or in a hallway alone, the odds are not in my favor. I tried to remove myself from the situation. She attacked me. I tried to restrain her without hurting her, and she slammed my head into a wall. I went down, and she kicked me several times before I was able to get away."

"What was the cause of the first attack?"

"I wasn't going to spend the weekend with her and was going to spend it with Mister Hotchner's young son at a weekend-long Smithsonian event. It's more up my alley than Hotch's, and the son has long passed Hotch's knowledge on a great many things when it comes to physics. My first hospital visit wasn't from her, but I fell downstairs, and I got a concussion from it. She was aware of this, and while I can't know her mind, I'm sure that's why she slammed my head into a wall as the opening of her attack. Daniels knew that I was supposed to take it easy. It was on camera as it happened outside the door to my apartment so once the State Police got the footage, they started the restraining order. I am still having balance issues from it all."

The detectives stood up and left the room. Spencer could feel Hotch's eyes on him. The team had known about the concussion and the one that followed but not the cause of the second one. He had been on restricted duty since the first one and then again for even longer on the second. Allowed to fly but not out into the field, so he'd been station bound, nearly two weeks later.

"We will discuss the lie to the team and me later."

"I never lied. I gave you the only notification that was needed. I said that my head hit the wall. No one asked how and just assumed I'd been clumsy again, especially with the preexisting concussion I had. I wasn't aware that she was going to accuse me of rape and thought it done. My personal life is none of your business unless it impacts my work, outside of the injury, and I wasn't aware that this would." Spencer wasn't going to allow himself to be bullied into thinking that he had to tell the team every damned thing that happened in his life.

Silence reigned in the room for a while. The only sound was their combined breathing. Spencer was a little worried at how Hotch was taking it, but it really didn't matter besides how he would be treated on the team.

The door opened after twenty minutes, and Spencer looked to see a man in a suit, as well as Will, enter the room with the second detective behind him.

"We were informed of your location, contacted that police station, and were emailed copies of video snippets of you in the police department from six pm to one am," the man in the suit said. "I'll make sure that my detectives will look into this as we do not like false accusations of any kind. Agent Hotchner, Doctor Agent Reid, thank you for being so cooperative." The Chief of Police it seemed or the Captain of the station.

"I want to know how your detectives knew where Reid was but had no clue that he was a federal agent," Hotch said as he stood up.

"The woman who laid the claim called in that she saw him. All she said she knew was his name, but given the information that we have found out from just talking to Doctor Reid, we believe him. She didn't give his address because it would lead us back to who he really was, and that would lead to the case and prove that he wasn't in town. Why wouldn't she give a time when he was in town and not on a case?" The man asked.

"I didn't keep her apprised of my comings and goings that closely, especially after I was attacked. This was a case where I wasn't supposed to be on. I was supposed to have time off to work on my thesis. The case came in, and it had a huge paper trail. With my memory and my above average reading speed, I was needed, so my boss promised me the week off after the case was closed. If I had not gone on the case, I would have had no way to confirm my whereabouts."

"Spence, JJ still has your bag and is waiting out in the bullpen with the rest of the team. I found the restraining order in the system." Will smiled at him.

"We will get to the bottom of this, agents, I promise."

"Spence, the restraining order is going to be good in DC and Virginia before the night is over," Will said as he opened the door for them. Hotch stood up and tugged Spencer up with him. "They ran you, but there are three other Spencer Reid's that have been in the area in the past few months and another that lives here. They were running all of them and narrowing it down before she called."

Hotch didn't say a word but did hand over a business card to the man in the suit. "Captain, anything about this case will have to go through me as Doctor Reid's legal counsel."

"Of course, Agent. Please, I know that this night hasn't gone that well, but I hope the rest is peaceful."

"JJ tells me that a Bureau lawyer is already working on the case against the woman." Will seemed genuinely upset, and Spencer wasn't upset at him. He shrugged off Hotch's hold and moved to hug him. All of the tenseness in Will's body fled as Spencer hugged him. "JJ wants to see about a Henry and his Godfather weekend."

"Soon." Spencer felt Hotch's hand on him again.

"If you cannot reach me, the Bureau lawyer will handle getting a hold of me."

"The Bureau lawyer might be better," Will joked. Spencer smiled at him, but Hotch didn't. The chief looked really uncomfortable. The original detectives looked like they smelled blood in the water.

"There might be fewer tears on the MPD's part if they deal with the Bureau lawyer. The last time that Hotch was on the stand, he had the lawyer in tears over his better grasp of Iowa law than him."

The detectives cringed a little. Spencer smirked as Hotch pulled him from the room. Spencer wanted to shake the hold off, more for the fact that he didn't want the touch than anything else, but he knew why Hotch was doing it. Hotch's hand gently squeezed his shoulder, bringing his focus to him. It was a tactic that Morgan and JJ used when Spencer's mind had a tendency to run wild at moments.

"The team is all here, Reid. You aren't going to be able to escape without telling everything you know that." Hotch's tone was soft, but it was also a little stern.

"I know." Spencer looked around the bullpen as they stepped out of the hall leading from the interrogation rooms. Hotch let go of him and moved to a room at the side while Spencer moved a lot slower that way. He watched as Hotch intercepted Morgan and JJ and decided that it was time to just get it over with. He turned towards the room and was blindsided by a body rushing him. He was down on the ground with someone on top of him. His glasses weren't on his face anymore, and he brought his hands up to protect his face as the first strike hit him. A punch landed on his stomach, and he dropped a hand down to protect it before he was struck in the face again, it catching part of his hand as well.

"You are mine, Spencer Reid. No one else's!" Stephanie's voice rang in Spencer's head as he felt her weight being lifted off of him. "Say you'll come back and I'll make this all go away. I love you."

"Reid," a voice said, and Spencer realized that he'd probably got another concussion given how much the world was spinning. He felt fingers on his face and jerked away from them. Footsteps moved away from him, and he could barely make out the movement of someone towards him again.

"Reid," a different voice said, and this time Spencer knew it. It was Hotch. Spencer's eyes weren't focusing, and he tried to make them. "She's in cuffs on the other side of the room. Your glasses are broken, they shattered when they flew away. Is your spare pair in your bag that JJ has?"

The words took a minute to process but Hotch just crouched there beside him, he was blurry, but after years of waking up in a hotel room at random times to Hotch waking him up when he was asleep, Spencer knew that form. Spencer nodded, just enough for Hotch to know but not enough to hurt him. More steps came over towards Hotch but stayed away from him. The blonde hair told him that it was JJ, and he could just make out the blob that was his bag in her hand. Hotch was rooting around inside and pulled out the spare case. Spencer heard the creak of the hinge before the case snapped shut. Hotch slowly leaned forward, slipping his glasses on his face. Spencer looked to see Stephanie being escorted down the hall. She was silent but trying to look back at him.

"That messed up her chance of getting the rape thing to go to trial, right?" JJ asked Hotch as she looked at the older man. The other officers in the bullpen were staying back except for Will, who had a first aid kit in his hands. He handed the kit over to Hotch.

"Do you need help up?" Hotch asked.

"Yes. I'm very dizzy." Spencer held out his arm for Hotch to grip and help him up. The older man pulled him up, but he didn't let go of him. He looped Spencer's arm over his shoulders and helped him into the room the team had been in before Stephanie had attacked him.

"When was the last time you saw her?" Rossi asked as Hotch prodded Spencer to sit on the end of the table.

"The 24th. When I forced her out of my apartment at gunpoint after she attacked me in it. I called the squad and got my gun from the safe while she was in the bathroom getting supplies to help patch me up. I know the statistics of what would happen if I tried to put my hands on her to get her out of the apartment. I think the banging from the neighbor was what made her leave as she was afraid that someone would come to check on the yelling. The court hearing for the restraining order, she didn't even show up for it." Spencer watched as there was a battle of wills between JJ and Hotch over the first aid kit. JJ won, and when she turned to take care of him, Spencer leaned back on the table away from her. He didn't want her touching him. His head was spinning, and he wasn't feeling the greatest. He needed to go to the hospital, but he didn't want to go. JJ frowned at him but handed the kit back at Hotch.

Before Hotch could start, Will entered the room, shut the door, locked it, and turned the blinds.

"I've been on vacation the past few days, so I wasn't able to catch this. I have read her statements to the cops, and she did everything she could to make sure that the man who attacked her and you weren't connected. She consented to a rape exam but held that her rapist used a condom. When was the last time you were intimate with her."

"Never. We hadn't got that far. Barely to the state of what I think Morgan calls heavy petting."

"Okay. A foreign hair was found on her."

"My DNA is on file with the FBI."

"Okay."

"Reid," Hotch said, and Spencer turned to look at him.

"Oh, there is no way to pin this on him. That scene out there, as well as the fact that she came to the station just after the rape, occurred in her words means that it wasn't him. So either she had sex with someone and lied or someone else raped her, and she is trying to pin it on Spencer. If the hair is Spencer's, that means she planted it."

"If it was a pubic hair, it can't be mine."

"You already said you didn't have sex with her." Morgan looked at him, worried.

"No. I mean that I don't have pubic hair. I never liked it as a teenager either. It bothered me, and as soon as I got insurance through the bureau, I got rid of it. I don't have chest hair or leg hair either. The only hair of mine that could be on her is head hair or armpit. I'm debating getting rid of my armpit hair for the same reason."

"That's...I don't know what hair it was, but I will make a notation. Hotch his eyes." Will looked concerned.

"I know. I want to look at his lip first and get it to stop bleeding." Hotch stepped up between Spencer's legs and gently tilted his head back. Spencer closed his eyes because the room started to spin again. He reached out to steady himself. He settled his hand on Hotch's hip for lack of anywhere else to put it. The man didn't say anything.

"The hospital filed the incident on the 24th as domestic abuse. It seems that you were chatty in the ambulance on the way. You refused the cops and said you were going to be seeking a restraining order. It was granted, obviously. Your arrest tonight is not going on file. It's already been wiped. The case file reads that you were brought in for questioning in the case as a witness. We've already been in contact with Virginia. Since the rape charge was levied here, they are going to let us handle the battery charge that will now have to be levied against her. Virginia is glad to be rid of the political shitstorm that's about to happen. Stephanie Daniels is the daughter of real estate tycoon Gregory Daniels."

"Don't worry about the lawyer fees, Reid. You were on duty at the time of the faked incident, and the Bureau will cover all fees. Cruz wants me to stay as the lead lawyer in the courtroom if it goes that far. And the Bureau may try and take it Federal since you are an agent and this last attack happened in a police station."

"Is the file ready for me it sign on this event?" Spencer asked, looking at Will. The man nodded.

"It will be by the time you leave. The security feed has already been sent to Hotch's work email as we don't have the email for the Bureau lawyer."

"Thank you, Will." Hotch pressed something to Spencer's lip, and pain flared hot and stingy on his lip. He hissed and tried to pull back but Hotch's free hand wrapped around the back of his head. "Hold still. I'm sorry. I should have warned you."

"How long were the two of you dating?" Morgan asked.

"A total of three months but with work, it was just five dates. After the first one we played phone..." the words Spencer wanted was lost to his mind for a few seconds. "...tag for two weeks. I know she works for her father, and she travels some for him. We were in different areas more than the same." Spencer felt Hotch's finger gently on the back of his head.

Morgan was reaching out to him, and Spencer jerked away from him and towards Hotch. The room spun around for a few seconds from the sudden movement. Spencer saw the quirked eyebrow from Rossi. Morgan raised his hands and backed away. Spencer wasn't sure why he did not want Morgan or even JJ to touch him.

"Turn your head," Hotch said as he moved around and touched Spencer's neck. Spencer didn't even react at the touch, but he turned his head away from Hotch. He could see the team's reflection in the glass of the windows looking outside. This was a lot more in his life than he ever wanted the team to be.

"I couldn't make myself hit her. I've seen what happens to men whose wives beat them and they try and defend themselves to get away. I wasn't going to be that. I made her leave at gunpoint but never touched her, even allowing her to get a good shot at my head with her fist once while trying to get away." There was a flare of pain on the back of Spencer's head, and he hissed and jerked away from Hotch, for the first time. He saw Hotch's hand come around his head and saw blood. He looked up at Hotch's face.

"You are going to the hospital now. I will drive you, so you don't have to go in an ambulance."

"I'll get one of the detectives to go with you so that he can get documentation," Will said as he opened the door and stepped out. Hotch helped Spencer off the table and ushered him towards the door.

"JJ, do you mind dropping off his things at his apartment and securing his gun?" Hotch asked as Spencer stepped through the door. One of the detectives that hadn't tried to interrogate him was standing there.

"Doctor Reid, I'll help you to the SUV that Agent Hotchner drove here." the man said as he stepped up close to Spencer. He didn't try and touch him at all but instead just kind of walked beside him. The doors clicked open, and Spencer slipped inside.

* * *

"Hotch, I just want to go home." Spencer carefully laid his head back on the headrest.

"You have a third concussion in a short period of time. I am not letting you go home to your apartment alone." Hotch's tone brokered no fighting, and usually, Spencer would have heeded it, but today he just wanted to be alone.

Spencer looked at Hotch as he drove the SUV. It was Bureau issue, and Spencer wasn't sure exactly why he was allowed to use it for personal use.

"I have a massive headache, and I get grumpy when I do, and you have a child in your household that gets excited when I come over. Excuse me Hotch if I don't want to answer questions all night long." Spencer hoped that being pissy would make Hotch want to drop him off at home. He really didn't want to be forced to deal with anything and Hotch would make him do it. Which would make him have to think more into why he had allowed Hotch to touch him when he wasn't allowing anyone else, especially the people he was closer to than anyone else. His physical attraction to Hotch was long standing. The man looked beautiful in a suit, and his confidence was a turn on. Spencer tamped down on the emotions that it tried to evoke in him. He had known what they were for a while, but that night with everything, it was coming out.

"That's not going to work with me, Reid. Jack will leave you alone, and I am not going to let you stay at home, given what happened the last time."

"I had it handled to the best of my ability, that's as much as anyone can say. I didn't ignore it and hope it goes away. I made sure that she did not have access to my building, including having the super change all the locks to the outside in case she had lifted my keys and made an impression to make a copy. He wasn't that happy, but once he found out about me being put in the hospital, he did it with little issue. I even paid for the whole damned thing. There was nothing more I could have done. As powerful as my brain is, I can't see the future and see that she was going to accuse me of rape."

Hotch said nothing but he kept driving. The man wasn't turning towards Spencer's apartment. Spencer thought about how he would be able to go home as soon as Hotch fell asleep.

"And if you are thinking of slipping out. JJ took your bag home. You have no ID, no money, and I know that you won't get into my wallet to take money to get home. I watched you slip your wallet and credentials into your bag before we left the restaurant."

"This is kidnapping."

"You were signed out of the hospital with the understanding that you were staying with someone. I can take you to JJ's or Morgan's." Hotch was smirking, and Spencer wanted to slap it off his face. He crossed his arms and settled down into the seat. "I had JJ drop off clothes for you with the night manager at my apartment."

"But nothing else."

"You and I have a lot to talk about."

"We are not talking about my personal life."

"Daniels made bail, and the AD doesn't want you alone at all. My building has cameras at all entrances now." The parking garage for Hotch's apartment came closer, and Spencer resigned himself to living with his boss for at least a week or so. When Hotch parked the SUV in the second spot right beside another car. Spencer didn't even wait for the SUV to be shut off before he got out.

Hotch said nothing as the doors on the elevator shut. When the doors opened, Spencer let Hotch move out first. He followed the man to the apartment, where he just opened the door. When Spencer stepped inside, he saw Jessica standing there with Spencer's go bag in her hand.

"I have the bag here and," Jessica looked up at Spencer, and there was shock all over her face. "You've been home for two days. You haven't been on a case, and those bruises look fresh." Jessica stepped right up to Spencer and touched the side of his face. Spencer jerked at the touch, and she looked over at Hotch. Spencer felt Hotch come up behind him and settle him with a touch.

"Reid, she's not going to hurt you. It's just Jessica."

"Spencer?" Jack called out as he entered the room. Before Jack could run towards Spencer, Hotch shushed him, and Jack slapped a hand over his mouth.

"Jack, Spencer isn't feeling good. Why don't you take his bag from Jessica and get it set up in the guest room."

Spencer moved away from the Hotchners and Jessica and sat down on the couch. Spencer listened as Hotch said goodnight to Jessica and checked on Jack. It wasn't long before a weight settled down on the couch beside him.

"There is one thing that stands out to me."

"What?"

"Why are you dating?"

"I don't understand." Spencer looked at Hotch and saw that he really was confused.

"I heard you and JJ talking one night when we were working that case in Iowa five months ago."

Spencer knew the time that Hotch was talking about. JJ had cornered him, and he had admitted something that he had not revealed to anyone else. He'd never named a name, but it hadn't taken much for JJ to figure it out. She hadn't felt pity, though.

"So why are you dating someone when you are in love with someone else?" Hotch asked.

"Because wanting to have a connection with someone doesn't mean I love the other person less. I should have just stopped after the third date but I...I need to shut my mouth because it seems that concussion mess with my ability to keep my mouth shut. I'm sorry about earlier. I just...I need space, Hotch. I feel like I'm under a microscope."

"I'm going to do checks on you all night long, so be prepared."

Spencer huffed as he stood up when he did he realized how close Hotch had been. He turned back around and looked at him. Really looked at him. Hotch was sweating or had been sweating at some point that night, there were subtle stains on his armpits. His shirt was rumpled like he'd been tugging on his tie all night long.

"Why?"

"Why what?" Hotch said as he looked up at Spencer.

"Why do you care if I am in love with someone but dating someone else?" Spencer asked, and he turned to fully face Hotch.

"Because no matter what you aren't going to be happy without the person you love. I had to face that."

Spencer kept the snort to himself. He remembered the conversation with Hotch after Haley had served him. That what Hotch wanted he wasn't going to get. Even after her death, Hotch still loved her. His relationship with Beth had fizzled because he wasn't able to love anyone but her.

"You can't make yourself happy with anyone but who you love, Spencer. You need to tell him."

"No, thank you." Spencer knew where Hotch's guest room was. He had stayed over before when the power to his building had been shut down due to a massive accident in winter. It had been a few years, but nothing changed. Jack wasn't in the room, but his go bag was empty. His sleep clothes laid out on the bed, and Spencer was sure that the rest were in the dresser drawers. Before Spencer could shut the door to change, he heard footsteps.

"Why not?"

"I'm not stupid, and I don't feel that I need to tell the person I love that I love them when they can't love me back. I'm not going to give them that burden."

"Why can't they love you back?"

"Because they are in love with someone else and I can't compete with their memory. Please, Hotch."

"Spencer, just say it."

"No."

"Then, I will." Hotch turned Spencer around. He cupped the sides of Spencer's face but didn't do anything else. "You've been there for me since Hardwicke. You've been there for Jack since Haley's death, and I am not in love with a ghost anymore. I did some soul searching after I broke things off with Beth. She had a few of the same traits that Haley did, and I didn't see that until the first time she tried to shame me for caring about the team. She and I fought about that, and I broke it off that night. I told Dave that she took a job in Hong Kong as the reason for the breakup, but it wasn't. She took that after because then he would at least give me a little bit of time. Say the words."

Spencer could barely breathe, he wasn't sure what he wanted, but Hotch was looking at him, looking at him and it was like he was seeing him, the real him. Spencer wouldn't have been able to stop the words if he wanted to.

"I love you," Spencer whispered.

Hotch smiled. He looked so beautiful to Spencer at that moment.

"Can I kiss you, Spencer?"

"Yes."

"Good but right now I want you to understand that I'm going to be with you every single step of the way in this. I would prefer it if you stayed here until Daniels is in jail. She's got reach, but this apartment building is tight now. After Foyet, the building owners are more vigilant. Do you want to stay here?"

"Yes."

"For now, I would like you to stay in the guest room, but I am serious about this."

"I'm okay with that." Spencer didn't want to jump in bed with him anyway. Spencer closed his eyes as Hotch leaned in and kissed him again. Just a light press of lips, but still it was there and enjoyable.

* * *

Spencer decided that he never wanted to be on trial again. He never wanted to be maligned in court again. Despite what was circumstantial and weak evidence, it still went to trial. It had backfired as the news had jumped on the trial like sharks in chummed water. It hadn't taken long for the facts of the trial to come forward, despite the court's attempts to plug leaks. Spencer was put on leave when the trial started, and it was unpaid at first followed by paid with back leave once the news got wind. Spencer understood the FBI was covering its ass but he really fucking hated that no one but his team supported him in that until it was overwhelming that he hadn't fucking touched her in a harmful way.

Cruz and Aaron had fought the unpaid, but the FBI was trying to save face. Then once word leaked that he wasn't in town when the rape was said to have taken place and that he was on camera, the higher-ups had backtracked and Spencer was given his pay again.

The farce of a trial was stopped halfway through when whatever the Daniel's family had on whoever was pushing the trial through at the DA's either went away, or they were put out of a job. The FBI promised to look into it to the world at large.

Spencer having his name splashed across the papers, countrywide meant his life was looked into. Him living with his boss was barely mentioned as from the get-go, Aaron had pointed out to the press that the team had been targeted before and he himself had almost died, he wasn't going to allow it to happen again to another member.

The downside, if there was only a single one, was that his childhood was looked at. Before it was leaked that he wasn't in DC at the time the alleged rape took place, Spencer's life had been looked at under a microscope. The fact that his father had left him to be raised by a paranoid schizophrenic was splashed across the news. That had hurt his father's career, but Spencer wasn't that worried about it, and he didn't follow what happened to William Reid after that. Bennington had kept everyone away from his mom and made sure that she didn't see about the trial. The team touted his innocence from the first moment, which helped as the case moved along and then was dropped.

Spencer was sitting at home with a glass of wine in his hand, thinking about it all. When the judge threw the case out, with prejudice, Stephanie had launched herself at him, the court officers had stopped her, but her rantings were just as bad as it had been inside the police station. The judge made sure that the ADA going after Spencer understood that he wanted charges filed against her for false accusations and that he wanted to see more members of the DA's office in court for this mockery.

Stephanie was in jail, and Spencer was home for the first time in two months. The only thing was that he didn't want to be there. Morgan had made such a big deal after the celebratory dinner about how Aaron was sure to be happy to have his home back that when he offered to take Spencer off his hands and drive him home, no one could say anything different. So there Spencer was alone, at home, missing Aaron and Jack. The team had the week off and then Monday, Spencer was back onto the team. Being that the team was witnesses, they had been stuck in the office from the moment the trial started. The other teams had taken on the extra load, and even Garrett's IRT had taken a case here and there when they weren't needed abroad.

Spencer startled as the ring on his cell phone sounded in the silent apartment.

"Hello," Spencer said, not looking at the caller ID.

"I'm miserable. Are you?" Aaron asked. There was such sadness in his voice. It sounded almost pathetic.

"Yes. Do you want me to come over?" Spencer felt the smile on his face even before he started to speak. He was sick with love if even just the sound of Aaron's voice made him feel better.

"Yes. Even Jack is moping. But the guest bed is piled with things."

Spencer smiled even more. "I guess I'll have to take your bed." They hadn't shared a bed yet, they were taking things slow. Jack had caught them kissing like teenagers on the couch a few times and started announcing when he was leaving his bedroom so he wouldn't become blind.

"I guess you will. And I have to insist on you staying forever."

Spencer laughed at the wording, but he knew that Aaron meant it.

"I'll stay forever."

# The End

**Author's Note:**

> I write fanfiction for fun. It's a hobby and a stress relief. I refuse to stress over my writing. What you see is what you get. Errors, plot holes, and all. Thank you for reading my story! 
> 
> I can be found on MeWe (a FB replacement that's better) [here](https://mewe.com/i/beccaqueen1), join me there and we can discuss my fics and whatnot. My writing page for the moment is kind of dead in the water on a FB front as links are being banned for content. 
> 
> The Criminal Minds Reverse Bang sign-ups are open until June 30th! Please check it out [here](https://criminalmindsbangblog.wordpress.com/).


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